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2018 Second Extraordinary Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 9
BY SENATOR BOUDREAUX
SPECIAL DAY/WEEK/MONTH. Declares Saturday, June 30, 2018, as Kenneth Roberts
Sr. Day in Louisiana.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To declare Saturday, June 30, 2018 Kenneth L. Roberts Sr. Day in Louisiana, in recognition
3 of his immensely successful and deservedly celebrated career training quarter horses
4 to race, primarily in his home state of Louisiana.
5 WHEREAS, Kenneth Roberts Sr. was born on February 15, 1963, in Lafayette,
6 Louisiana, and, although he played football and basketball at Kashmere High School in
7 Houston, Texas, those sports soon took a backseat to learning to train quarter horses from
8 his uncle, Anthony Davis, a respected quarter horse trainer; and
9 WHEREAS, in 1967, at the tender age of fourteen, Kenneth Roberts began his
10 training under his uncle and saddled his first racehorse in 1977, a year in which his horses
11 won only six races, but he was undeterred by the long hours and hard work and continued
12 to persevere; and
13 WHEREAS, the hard work and sacrifices paid off for Mr. Roberts and he began
14 winning races in Texas and Louisiana, and developed stakes caliber horses that took him to
15 Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico and Los Alamitos Racetrack in Cypress, California, home
16 each year to four quarter horse stakes races with purses of over one million dollars, more
17 than any other track in the United States; and
18 WHEREAS, despite long days of overseeing barn morning workouts, evaluating
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1 horses for upcoming races, and talking with owners, veterinarians, and those in the racing
2 office at his farm in Mauriceville, Louisiana, Kenneth Roberts contributes his success to that
3 very hard work and to having a dedicated team, which includes his brother, Roy, who works
4 hard every day alongside him; and
5 WHEREAS, clearly, Kenneth Roberts has both the passion and keen eye when
6 evaluating yearlings, and he considers it more than merely looking over the prospect from
7 head to toe; it involves a connection, spotting a horse that will be special and a part of the
8 working team of trainer, owner, and jockey; and
9 WHEREAS, Tony Patterson, executive director of the Louisiana Quarter Horse
10 Breeders Association (LQHBA) says about Kenneth Roberts: "Kenny has set an incredible
11 standard for Louisiana quarter horse racing . . . he is the rare horseman that combines
12 quantity with quality"; and
13 WHEREAS, throughout his career, Kenneth Roberts has saddled over thirteen
14 thousand horses and has a lengthy list of champions and multiple stakes winners, including
15 the 1994 All American Derby winner I Hear A Symphony and Royal Bushwacker who broke
16 his maiden at Delta Downs in Vinton, Louisiana, in 1990 and won the All American
17 consolation and two stakes wins at Los Alamitos in his first year of racing, and Mr. Roberts
18 credits Royal Bushwacker as having "played a big part in my career"; and
19 WHEREAS, recalling other memorable horses, Mr. Roberts focuses on Ol Time
20 Preacher Man, who was purchased at the 2012 LQHBA yearling sale and went on to win
21 the one million dollar LQHBA Breeders' Futurity in November 2013 at Evangeline Downs,
22 near Lafayette in St. Landry Parish; and
23 WHEREAS, Kenneth Roberts has trained three World Champion horses: I Hear A
24 Symphony, winner of the All American Derby; Jess And Louisiana Blue, winner of the
25 American Quarter Horse Association Racing Champion Aged Stallion and East Hi Point
26 Aged Stallion; and B And G Fast Dash, winner of the AQHA Racing Champion of Distance;
27 and
28 WHEREAS, on January 17, 2017, Kenneth Roberts Sr. was awarded the World
29 Champion Quarter Horse Trainer title, having won one hundred sixteen races, finished
30 second in another ninety-six, and sixty-eight third place finishes to amass a winning total of
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1 two million eight hundred thousand dollars in earnings in that single racing year; and
2 WHEREAS, Kenneth L. Roberts Sr. became the first African American trainer to win
3 that coveted title as he continued to race primarily in his native state of Louisiana and on
4 June 30, 2018, at Delta Downs Racetrack Casino and Hotel in Vinton, Louisiana, he will be
5 celebrated as the World Champion Quarter Horse Trainer, the crowning achievement in a
6 more than forty year career of training race horses.
7 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
8 does hereby declare Saturday, June 30, 2018, Kenneth Roberts Sr. Day in Louisiana, in
9 recognition of his successful and deservedly celebrated forty year career of training quarter
10 horses to race, largely at home in Louisiana.
11 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
12 Kenneth L. Roberts Sr. at Kenneth Roberts Racing Stables in Vinton, Louisiana.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Mary Dozier O'Brien.
DIGEST
SR 9 Original 2018 Second Extraordinary Session Boudreaux
Declares Saturday, June 30, 2018, Kenneth Roberts Sr. Day in Louisiana, in recognition of
his celebrated career of training quarter horses to race.
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